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Month: May 2020

Piedmont Lithium’s Chemical Plant PFS Demonstrates Exceptional Economics and Optionality of USA Location

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NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX:PLL; NASDAQ:PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to report the results of the Company’s pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) for its proposed lithium hydroxide chemical plant (“Chemical Plant”) in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, USA. The PFS assumes a stand-alone merchant Chemical Plant that would convert spodumene concentrate purchased on the global market to battery-grade lithium hydroxide (“Merchant Project”).

Concurrently, Piedmont has updated the scoping study (“Scoping Study”) for its integrated mine-to-hydroxide project (“Integrated Project”) to reflect the updated Chemical Plant PFS. Both studies confirm that Piedmont will be a strategic and low-cost producer of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Piedmont benefits from access to the exceptional infrastructure, low operating costs and low corporate taxes enjoyed by American industrial companies.

Piedmont’s Chemical Plant would create an alternative to the numerous merchant spodumene converters currently operating in China and dominating the world lithium hydroxide market, thus providing US and European automotive companies a secure and independent American source of the lithium hydroxide required for their supply chains.

“The Chemical Plant PFS demonstrates the economic benefit of developing a lithium chemical business in North Carolina, USA, with its exceptional infrastructure, low operating costs and competitive tax regime.

80% of the world’s lithium hydroxide is produced in China, largely by non-integrated ‘merchant’ producers sourcing spodumene concentrate from Western Australia. As global automotive companies electrify their fleets, we expect them to increasingly seek ex-China sources of lithium supply, and North Carolina is ideally-positioned to benefit given its proximity to major auto markets in the US and Europe, and the deep lithium talent pool resident in the region.

Piedmont will now advance the Chemical Plant through the permitting and definitive feasibility processes, providing us the option to move aggressively on either a merchant or integrated basis toward first lithium production in 2023 as the transition to electric vehicles begins to seriously take hold”.

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer

To view the full ASX Announcement, click here.

Keith D. Phillips

President & CEO

T: +1 973 809 0505

E: kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Tim McKenna

Investor & Government Relations

T: +1 732 331 6457

E: tmckenna@piedmontlithium.com


Piedmont Completes Additional Testwork to Produce High Grade Spodumene and Byproduct Concentrates

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  • 120 kg of Dense Medium Separation (“DMS”) and flotation concentrates prepared for LiOH testwork
  • Byproduct quartz samples have received positive initial feedback from key potential customers
    • Quartz samples meet solar glass customer specifications – additional samples requested
    • Additional potential clients will receive byproduct quartz, feldspar and mica samples in Q2
  • Chemical plant Pre-Feasibility Study and updated integrated Scoping Study expected in May 2020
  • Lithium hydroxide bench scale testwork nearing conclusion with results expected in Q2 2020

NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX:PLL; NASDAQ:PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has produced 120 kg of spodumene concentrate from core samples collected from the Company’s Piedmont Lithium Project (“Project”) located within the world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (“TSB”) . These samples have now been used in the bench-scale lithium hydroxide testwork program nearing completion at SGS laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario. Concentrate qualities and recoveries were consistent with earlier testwork programs.

Table 1: Results of Combined DMS + Locked Cycle Flotation Testwork Results

Product

Li2O (%)

Fe2O3 (%)

Recovery (%)

Spodumene Concentrate

6.21

0.87

82.4

We are also pleased to announce production of additional larger-scale samples of quartz and feldspar concentrates as part of this testwork. Quartz samples prepared in SGS laboratories were delivered to potential solar glass customers and met customer quality expectations.

Confidential customer discussions are ongoing through the Company’s marketing partnership with Ion Carbon, a division of AMCI. Samples of quartz and feldspar concentrates will be delivered to other potential clients in the coming weeks. Mica samples will be produced in the coming weeks.

The updated spodumene concentrate and byproduct results will be used to support the Company’s study updates which will be announced later this month.

Table 2: Average of Results of Six Locked Cycle Byproduct Tests

 

Li2O

SiO2

Al2O3

K2O

Na2O

CaO

MgO

MnO

P2O5

Fe2O3

Quartz Concentrate

0.02

99.0

0.32

0.04

0.11

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01

Feldspar Concentrate

0.12

68.0

19.35

2.45

9.30

0.17

0.04

0.01

0.15

0.05

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Our lithium hydroxide testwork program continues at SGS, and is based on the high-quality, low impurity spodumene concentrate prepared from a 1.75 tonne representative ore sample from Piedmont’s Core property. Byproduct testwork is also continuing, and after positive initial customer feedback we have received from prospective quartz customers, we are beginning to evaluate the opportunity to expand our planned byproduct production, potentially further lowering our spodumene concentrate costs.”

To view the full ASX Announcement, please click here.

Keith D. Phillips

President & CEO

T: +1 973 809 0505

E: kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Timothy McKenna

Investor and Government Relations

T: +1 732 331 6457

E: tmckenna@piedmontlithium.com